Prostate cancer can affect all ages in men, from very young men through to their full adult life, and beyond into the 65. It is important to note that even though, prostate cancer is a cancer of sorts, the patients that have been killed by the cancer, is in fact, far less that those patients killed by other diseases, infections and various other circumstances.

First of all prostate cancer, of course, should not be taken lightly in any case, but should be kept within its reasonable margins of explanation. It is however, not unusual to have vast generalizations about the disease. Weighing up the pro’s and the con’s with regard to surgery takes a great deal of consultation and emotional effort on both part of the consultant and the patient, as with most cases, the removal of the prostate gland becomes the obvious but sometimes not the necessary (more…)

The prostate gland is located directly beneath the bladder and in front of the rectum. Like other cancers, the cause of prostate cancer is not known; it appears to be more common in African American men and men with a family history of the disease. At an advanced age, the risks of surgery for prostate cancer or other more radical treatments may actually be worse than the disease.

The main job of the prostate gland is to make seminal fluid, the milky substance that transports sperm. Prostate cancer is normally a slow growth cancer that can take years before it becomes deadly. About 80 percent of men who reach the age of 80 have prostate cancer.

Weak or interrupted flow of urine and painful or burning urination can be symptoms to watch out for. Additional symptoms that may be associated with this disease are bone pain (more…)

Prostate exams are a simple and straightforward procedure and can be conducted in a doctors office without any need for medical equipment or urine or blood testing. Since every year an average of two hundred fifty thousand men are diagnosed with prostate cancer, it is very important that all men receive regular prostate exams. The necessity of receiving prostate exams also increases as one ages.

This first form of prostate cancer treatment is called Active Surveillance. It is the medical term for watching a patients cancer, but not taking action until the condition worsens or expands. Active Surveillance is used when a patient may not be able to undergo treatment because of complications from other conditions, or is otherwise unable to receive cancer treatment.

The most direct route form of prostate cancer treatment is to remove the entire prostate, a procedure known as a prostatectomy. An incision (more…)

The tests carried for initial diagnosis will also help the oncologist decide on the correct type of treatment for a patient with prostate cancer. Blood levels of Prostatic Specific Antigen (PSA) and the biopsy reports are of particular value in this regard. Whether the tumor has spread, how fast it is growing and the patients’ age are all factors to be considered when choosing the correct treatment for each case of prostate cancer.

Where the cancer is found to be slow growing and has not spread from the prostate itself then no treatment is often the best option. A slow growing cancer of this type rarely impacts adversely on the life expectancy of the patient. Instead of treatment a process of what is known as active monitoring or watchful watching is started. The patient must attend regular clinic appointments for tests to ensure the cancer is still slow growing and (more…)